A Camping We Shall Go
by Alwaysgurl2013
Summary: While both in college, Emily and Aaron both end up working at a Camp Silver Springs together. But because of past incidents all counselors have agreed to not get romantically involved with each other. However, the heart will always want what it can't have.
1. Chapter 1

"Well Emily, your resume is definitely impressive, even for only being in your second year of college. You speak six languages and have lived all over the world?"

"My mother is an ambassador. We moved around for her postings. Picking up the languages was almost second nature for me. I love communicating and you can't do that if you don't speak the languages. I actually speak seven though if you also include English and I'm also hoping to pick up another next year in classes."

"At Chesapeake Bay University right?" The woman who introduced herself as Kathleen glances down at her notes.

"Yes." Emily feels as though she really needs to sell herself in this interview. Usually her connections, language skills and background is enough to lang internships but this is something completely different. Her mother can't understand why Emily wants to 'waste' her summer off at summer camp, but it's the challenge of doing something unlike anything she has ever done. Plus with her mother jetting off to a new posting in Bangladesh, she would rather stay stateside for the few months she has off from class.

"What are you studying?"

"I'm currently working on my bachelors in Criminal Justice before I hopefully transfer to Yale to continue onto a Masters in Linguistics."

"And what are you hoping to eventually do with those degrees?"

"My dream job is to work for the FBI. I would love to put my language skills to use and they seem like to best place to be a translator for criminal justice."

"Hmm." The stout brunette in front of her writes something down but makes no more comments on Emily's schooling and career goals. Had she said something wrong? "So if your goal is to become a translator long term, why summer camp?"

"Excuse me? I'm not sure I understand the question."

"Why did you apply? What made you want to be a counselor?"

"I never had the opportunity to go to camp as a child. There were always too many events I had to be at as the daughter of an ambassador. But I always wished I could have gone. Camp seems like such an important place to grow as a person by trying new things as well as having the opportunities to step out of your comfort zone."

"And what made you choose to apply to Camp Silver Springs specifically?"

"My roommate Lily spent the entire fall semester talking about how much she adored being a counselor here last summer."

"Lily was one of the best. We were so sorry to hear she wasn't able to come this summer, but studying abroad in Italy seems like a wonderful opportunity too." The woman across from Emily jotts some notes down on the paper in front of her. "Now we do have some questions we go through in this portion of the interview."

"Completely understandable."

"Most counselors are paired with a specific age group that is their cabin, but with camp activities throughout the weeks at camp there are chances to interact with multiple age groups. Are there any age groups you would prefer to work with? Or are there any you wouldn't feel comfortable with? Our campers range from ages five to seventeen."

"I think there are so many unique instances that can happen at each age that I'm excited to see what I get to learn and experience with all ages. With the younger campers, some of them are experiencing their very first time being away from home while the older ages are really learning not only who they are, but who they want to become. So no, I don't have a preference on the age of the campers I get to be a counselor for."

"And because there will be campers who are only a couple years younger than you, do you see that being able to help you or do you see that being more of an issue with campers who are closer in age to you?"

"Being close in age to the older end of campers will help me connect with them in an older sister esque way, I think. I would use my relatively close age as a way to allow them to come to me in friendship, but also to be there if they need advice or guidance."

"How about if one of them sees you being close in age as a way of letting them get away with things that they normally wouldn't be able to get away with? How would you handle that?" Emily takes a sip of her latte, giving herself a pause to think.

"I definitely would say I'm not the kind of person to let people walk all over me. But especially in a place like Camp Silver Springs, there are rules in place to keep the campers safe. So I wouldn't just allow anyone to skirt the rules especially if it meant the risks they were taking were going to put their lives in danger. So as I said before I can only see the positive side effects of being close in age with some of the campers because I wouldn't and won't let anyone walk over me, especially if it puts children's lives at risk."

"Ok." Kathleen makes a note before looking at the sheet in front of her again. "On a scale of one to ten, how likely would you say you are to try new things?"

"Probably an eight." Emily realizes she should probably elaborate a bit more. "There are few things that I wouldn't try, one being skydiving, but most things I'll try at least once. And I'm pretty open to hearing a new idea out before saying no if it is on my list."

"If you were dealing with a camper who refuses to try a new activity at camp such as the ropes course or horseback riding, how do you think you'd approach getting them to brace trying it?"

"I think I'd try to approach it from a logic standpoint. Figure out with them what about it scares them and see if there is a way to approach the activity without the fear. For example, if they're scared of getting up on a horse then the first step would just be getting them into the arena to pet the horse. Or if they're scared of heights then I would offer to take them on a lower ropes course first to build their confidence." Kathleen nods, acknowledging that she's following Emily's thought process but also that she agrees with how Emily would handle the situation.

"Would you be wanting to get certified to work the ropes course or be a lifeguard?

"Sure. Would that be during camp? Or would I need to do that before I arrive?"

"We can do it during the week of training we do prior to the campers arriving. Lastly, based on some past instances, in order to ensure that our counselors' attention remains fully on the campers and their jobs, we ask that all counselors agree to not get involved romantically with other counselors or with campers. Is this something you can agree to?"

"Of course."

"We then, assuming your background check goes through, we'd like to welcome you to Camp Silver Springs' Staff."

"Really?!" Emily's mind catches up with her mouth a second later. "I mean, thank you. I look forward to working with you and a summer of fun at Camp Silver Springs!"

"Welcome aboard!" Kathleen reaches out to shake the long hand of the girl sitting in front of her before glancing at the clock which makes her realize she needs to wrap up this interview so she can start the next one on time. "Now as much as we could sit here chatting all afternoon, I have some other interviews to finish and you have classes to get to if I'm remembering correctly." Kathleen looks to her list to see who her next interview is as Emily nods in agreement. Oh, a returner interview! "I'll walk you to the door. We will be following up with more information closer to the summer."

"Sounds great!" Emily can barely hold in the excitement about this summer now. Her smile has already broken free.

"I think this summer with be a great one Emily and I'm looking forward to having you on our team." Kathleen opens the door as she says this. There he is, her staffer from last year. "Aaron, why don't you come on in? By the way, this is Emily. She's our newest staff member as we just hired her." Turning to face Emily she continues, "Aaron's one of our returning counselors and he used to be a camper before he aged out."

"Nice to meet you Emily." Aaron's hazel eyes meet Emily's darker ones, but his cooler expression remains.

"The pleasure is all mine." Emily smiles with ease at this other counselor that if all the other guy counselors look as easy on the eyes as he does, it's going to be harder to keep her promise to not get involved with them.

"See you in June Emily." Kathleen closes the door to move on to Aaron's interview, but Emily finds herself unable to close off her mental image of his eyes as she walks away from the office. "It's good to see you again Aaron."

"Good to see you too Kathleen."

"How's your Mom doing?"

"She's doing well. Ready to have the house a bit quieter for the summer I'm sure."

"Sean's all ready for camp I take it?"

"It's all he's been talking about since he left last year. He adored it."

"He's, what, 12 now?"

"Yes and oh so ready to be a teenager officially in six months."

"Since you were in the teen boy cabin last year, do you think you want a different age? Especially since Sean will be in that one this year?"

"As I said last year, I don't mind where I'm placed. I enjoyed the guys in my cabin last year, but I also know that this year there will be new kids no matter what age I'm in so I'm ready for whatever challenges arise. But if I were to end up as Sean's counselor, it wouldn't be a problem. Mom already talked with him and he knows he needs to respect and listen to me if he gets placed in my cabin."

"Glad to hear it Aaron. Now last year you got lifeguard certification and talked about getting certified on the ropes course possibly. Is that still something you wanted to do? You did great with your cabin when they were on it so it was requested that you get certified."

"Sure, I'd be interested in getting certified."

"Ok, perfect! I'll put your name down with Emily's since she's the only other one to say yes so far."

"She's getting certified?" Aaron is a bit surprised. Most girls with her breeding did the camp thing for one of two reasons- to puff up their resumes or to meet boys. Hell that was why Haley kept coming back as a counselor. What a mistake she had been last summer, but still Emily seemed similar in how she was raised from what he had seen. But Haley had never said yes to getting certified to lifeguard or be a ropes course leader in all her times at camp since she had moved from camper to counselor with Aaron all those years ago. Had it really been six years now?

"She's open to getting certified as both a lifeguard and on the ropes course. Didn't even hesitate."

"Wow."

"I know. I think she's really going to bring a breath of fresh air into the camp. I also have a feeling the two of you might become fast friends."

"Why's that?" Aaron feels his eyebrows pull together. Kathleen might have known him since he was ten, but guessing his friends was a bit weird even for their relationship.

"She's studying criminal justice and even wants to work for the FBI one day too. Who knows maybe one day the two of you could be partners at the FBI building or something and to think it all can start here at Silver Springs."

"Huh." The exclamation leaves his mouth before he can think twice about it. If he were to guess, he would have guessed 16th Century English or something to do with Russian Literature or anything down those lines. But maybe this Emily girl is worth more of his time if they were going to work in similar fields one day.

"But I will mention to you like I mentioned to her," Kathleen's voice interrupts his thoughts, "to ensure the counselors attention remains on the campers and their duties as counselors, we're asking that counselors agree to not get romantically involved with other counselors or campers. Is this something you can agree to Aaron?"

"You're saying you don't want another Haley incident?"

"We don't want another Bella incident." Kathleen reminds him of what he spent the past year trying to forget.

"Yeah, I can agree to that. I just want to come to camp and have fun. Be surrounded by nature, great kids, and hopefully no spiders." Aaron jokes quickly, trying to lighten the mood and direct the conversation away from Bella.

**Author Note: So I wanted to write a piece about camp since I am going to be spending summer at camp this summer as a counselor. However that means updates on all my stories are going to be sporadic at best and nonexistent at worst between June 2nd and August 2nd. However I will be working on this while I am gone so hopefully I will have a wonderful new story when I get back:) Let me know what you think about Hotchniss going to camp together.**

**Lizzy**


	2. Chapter 2

"Emily Elizabeth, I don't understand why you want to waste your summer being an underpaid babysitter. If you want to be a nanny, you could be paid better and work better hours working for one of my ambassador friends who have children. But why you would want to waste your summer break wiping snotty noses and listening to crying I can't understand-"

"Mother that's not what I'm doing. I'm going to camp. I'm going to be a counselor. It's different than babysitting."

"Yes it's different than babysitting. It's like being a nanny, but worse. Why don't you spend your summer in Bangladesh with me instead? You won't have to wipe tears away or clean skinned up knees."

"Mother I _want_ to do this. I want to get away from everything that's happened over this past year and I am excited to go to camp." Emily throws the sunscreen she had been looking at in her cart. "Listen, I need to go. I'm out, we can chat later."

"Don't you dare hang up Emily Elizabeth-" Emily slams her flip phone shut before her mother can say anything else.

"Urrghhhh." Emily runs a hand haphazardly through her hair.

"Emily?" Emily looks up to see the eyes that have filled her dreams for the past couple of months.

"Aaron?"

"Is everything ok?"

"Everything is fine." Emily's voice shakes the tiniest amount at the end, convincing neither of them that she is actually fine.

"If you want, I can pretend that sounded convincing." Aaron smiles softly at the girl he had been able to hear for a couple of aisles. Camp wasn't always the easiest adjustment for anyone, but add to it that they would be gone for practically the whole summer without much way to contact family or friends and sometimes that made it harder on your loved ones. Staying most of the summer helped them all get closer on the staff side, but if there was a strain on a relationship now, camp would just add to it.

"Let's just say my mother and I don't have the easiest relationship and leave it at that." Emily says looking back at the display of bug spray and sunscreen that was out for the Memorial Day weekend.

"Ok. You picking out stuff for camp?" Aaron asks as if he didn't know she had camp on the brain already.

"Yeah I am." Emily replies while reaching for a can of bug spray.

"Not that type." Emily's head snaps back to look at the brunette standing near her.

"And why not?" Emily asks, defensive of her own choice.

"Because we will be in the deep woods most of the time. You'll want the one with Deet in it. It's in the camping department. Also you sure you don't want a stronger SPF? We spend more than half the day on the lake."

"The SPF doesn't matter as long as you're reapplying. Anything else of mine you feel like trash talking?"

"No more trash talking," Aaron throws his hands up, " But do you have mosquito netting?"

"Do I really need it? We're in cabins."

"We are, but the side windows open when it's hot, which is most of the summer so it's easier for the mosquitoes to get in. Also a battery powered fan was something I got my second year and now I never go without it."

"Any other tips oh wise one?"

"Cheap sunglasses, a couple good pairs of shoes, a couple books for down time, and more than one bathing suit are probably my best tips."

"Oh really?"

"Sunglasses will most likely break by the end of the summer so it's better that it's not a good pair. If it rains like it did a couple summers ago, you'll be happy you have a couple pairs of shoes to switch between. Not that we have a bunch of free time but it's nice to have something other than arts and crafts and paperwork to do when you have it. Lastly it's not fun putting on a cold wet swimming suit each day." Aaron can feel a small pull at the corner of his lips as he ticks off the reasoning for each item.

"Wow. Pre- law?"

"Working on my law degree already."

"What kind of law do you want to practice?" Emily seems genuinely interested verses all the times Haley had pretended to listen to Aaron spout off his degree plan/ life plan.

"Possibly criminal law. I'm also looking into the justice department or FBI as future career choices."

"No way."

"No way?"

"The FBI is my dream job." Aaron lets his eyes go wide as if this was new information to him.

"Why FBI?"

"I could ask you the same question." Aaron waits, hoping that this brunette will let him into the fortress of her mind. "Merde. Fine. I want to be a translator but actually do something with that. I don't want to sit in a cubicle reading over instructions making sure there are no typos; I want to use my language skills to put killers behind bars."

"Why not go for a criminal justice degree or something of that kind?"

"I am. At Chesapeake Bay University."

"How do languages come into play?" Aaron can't stop himself from asking.

"I'm hopefully going to be able to go to Yale for their Masters Program in Linguistics afterwards." Emily grabs the bug spray that Aaron hands her. "What is this though? An interview?"

"No, I just wanted to know more about you. I didn't mean to make it feel like a deposition or interrogation Emily. Sorry if I did." He picks up a second can of spray and hands it to her. "How about we make it more fair? We can grab a cup of coffee and you can interrogate me all you like?"

"No deal counselor." Emily stares him down for a moment before cracking a smile. "How about we grab a cup of coffee and we just chat? No interrogation needed?"

"Deal." Aaron smiles back at the brunette that challenges him just enough. Plus she goes to school near his mother's house, that's surely a sign they should be friends right?

"No! You're so wrong! The best Harry Potter is the third one! No one dies and Harry finds out he has a godfather. How can you say the fifth one?" How could he have thought they could ever be friends? Every subject that was brought up they had different views. With Haley at least she agreed with him on most things, or pretended to, and didn't argue with him like this maddening brunette did. Every word out of her mouth was a disagreement it seemed. Would it kill her to agree with him once? Haley did it easi- when had he started comparing his ex and Emily? They were two clearly different people. And second of all, he is not allowed to date Emily. But this is anything but a date. He had originally asked her for coffee, or well tea in her case, to make sure everything was ok. She had sounded so defeated when he had passed her in the aisle. With everything they were going to go through during training, he was just making sure she was okay. Offering her some friendly advice, and maybe trying to find out more about the girl that in another time or place he might have thought of being close friends with or possibly even dated, but not now and definitely not at Silver Springs. But even on Harry Potter books and cartoon characters, she needed to be right on what the best ones are. If this is how she is just on a get to know you hang out, how would they ever find a subject to agree upon if they were dating? Aaron nearly chokes on his coffee as the word slips into his thoughts again before he can stop it.

"Are you ok?" Emily's voice is filled with concern and her argument for her favorite doctor on Doctor Who falls to silent lips.

"Fine. Down wrong pipe." Aaron coughs out. Emily contemplates reaching out to pat him on the back, but she doesn't know the man sitting across from her that well, or really at all to be honest, and didn't know if getting into his personal space would be too much.

"Should I get you some water?" Emily thinks this might actually help, but the stubborn brunette shakes his head.

"Fine. 'M Fine." He coughs once more.

"Make it sound more believable next time." He shoots her a glare over the rim of his coffee mug as he sips on the amber liquid. Maybe in a courtroom it will shake a hardened criminal, but Emily can't help but laugh as she brings her own mug to meet her lips. The smell of mint meets her nose before the taste rushes past her lips and tongue. "So The Doctor makes you start choking? I'll have to remember that so I don't bring him up at camp and kill you or something."

"It's not the Doctor per se."

"What is it then?"

"Timey wimey things." He says with a smile. Emily rolls her eyes but feels herself smiling into her tea. If there weren't restrictions in place from the camp, she could see herself easily falling for this man. He is smart, knows a lot of the same things she is interested in and even has a nerdy side. But part of her, the smarter part thankfully, keeps reminding her that no matter what feelings she **could** develop for this man, absolutely nothing **can** happen. So all that can become is a wonderful friendship while she goes to camp. It will be nice to have a familiar face already and the tips he's already given her will definitely come in handy. So Aaron will be nothing more than a really good friend if she wants to keep her job and she needs to be ok with that- whether the smaller yet more demanding part of her that wants this to become more will be happy with that or not.


	3. Chapter 3

Camp Silver Springs is everything yet nothing like what she had imagined. Pulling into the campgrounds and seeing the crystal waters of the lake as she drove towards the cabins and the mountains retreating behind them was so picturesque. Everything seemed to be as if imagined out of a novel she had read as a child and she can barely believe this is going to be her home for the summer.

"Picked quite a pretty place to spend the summer Miss Emily." Reginald, her mother's driver, comments, breaking her thoughts as he pulls up in front of a building labeled with a wooden sign painted with bright letters spelling out Staff House.

"Took the words right out of my mouth Reggie." A blonde girl steps out of the staff house and takes note of the black four door that has just pulled up in front of the log cabin building, her nose already turning upwards.

"She looks like a rotten, spoiled version of you Miss Emily. Don't let her bear her teeth before you stand your ground."

"I've had plenty of practice with the other versions of her I've met- Chrysanthemum, Penny, Muffy, and others like that. She's got no ground to stand on."

"That's my girl." Reginald throws the car into park and steps out to grab Emily's door.

"Maybe you missed the memo, but there are no butlers allowed at camp."

"Not her butler. Just her grandfather." Emily smiles at the age old joke between her and the older man who has been her family's driver for, well, forever.

"I'm so sorry!" The blonde ponytail starts swinging as she motions her apologies. "I just thought-"

"I can figure what you thought! That I was the hired help instead of wanting to see my granddaughter off to camp! Well see here, I might be old, but I can manage just fine thank you and I'll chauffeur my Emily when I want too!"

"I meant no disrespect."

"Maybe not to me. But you definitely did to my Emily!" His voice raises as he fakes outrage towards this counselor.

"I swear I didn't." Her face flushes bright pink and Emily knows she should step in now.

"Granddad, it's alright. I'm sure she meant no offense by it."

"Exactly!" Her ponytail bobs again. "I'm sure we're going to be friends soon anyway so it was meant as a joke." _A joke? Yeah right._ Emily can't help but think to herself. This blonde is definitely two faced and someone Emily is going to have to watch out for.

"Emily!" The deep bass she has gotten to know fairly well calls out from the door and she looks up to see Aaron flying down the steps of the lodge. Aaron has been answering her questions over the phone which then leads to them staying on the phone chatting which had turned into conversations at two in the morning while everyone else is sleeping. The blonde's eyes narrow at Aaron's friendly tone though, almost like she's angry at the friendship or is jealous maybe?

"How are you?"Aaron asks, pulling her into a hug and breathing in her scent ever so slightly.

"Good. I haven't changed much since we talked last night though." Emily says with a laugh, even though that makes the skinny girl across from her frown with anger lines forming on her forehead.

"I would hope not. Did you manage to get some sleep after we hung up?" The blonde's blue green eyes flutter between the two brunettes, trying to figure out the relationship status between her ex-boyfriend and this new counselor who was going to be on her staff all summer. "Haley, have you met Emily yet?" Aaron asks, noticing the irritation marking Haley's face. There's nothing for her to be irritated about. Emily and he are just friends, just as he and Haley are just friends.

"We we're just in the process of meeting. We haven't been properly introduced yet."

"Well Emily meet Haley Brooks. She's one of the Unit Leaders or ULs, like I am. Haley meet Emily Prentiss. I believe she's one of your counselors, isn't she?" Emily groans internally, knowing that she would be reporting to this blonde who can't stand her friendship with Aaron for whatever reason. Haley can't possibly think there is more between them than there is, can she?

"Nice to meet you." Haley flashes the brightest yet fakest smile towards Emily.

"Same. I'm sure we will make a wonderful team this summer." Years of schmoozing at her mother's events comes in handy as she smiles back at this girl she is sure will be no more than a frenemy. "Is there a place I can take my stuff so R-Granddad can get going?"

"I can help you with your stuff Emily." Aaron offers. Seeing Haley's eyes dart his way, he adds, "All my counselors are here. You're still waiting on two more and waiting at the Staff House makes more sense while I walk Emily over to Violet."

"I guess that does make sense." Haley nods but crosses her arms and moves to stand on the porch of the Staff House while Aaron moves towards the trunk of the car. Emily swings her backpack on before grabbing her blue duffel.

"I can get that." Aaron swings it out of her hands and onto his shoulder. Emily rolls her eyes at his macho man show but says nothing as she grabs both her sleeping bag and pillow.

"Which way are we heading Captain Adventure?" Emily jokes with Aaron after they've grabbed everything.

"You saying goodbye to your grandfather first?" Emily smiles at Reginald and gives him a hug.

"See you at the end of summer."

"Give me a call if she needs to disappear." Reginald's Russian Mob training comes whispering into her ear.

"I'll remember that. Love you." Emily watches the man who has bee like a grandfather more than her own grandfather walk back to the driver's side.

"Love you too sweet girl." Reginald salutes to her as he gets into the car and Emily can only watch as the car pulls away.

"Ready to go to your cabin?" Aaron asks and points towards the direction of Emily's living quarters for the summer.

"Yeah let's go." The pair walks in silence for a few moments, leaves crunching beneath their feet, before Emily can't help but ask about Haley.

"So Haley seems protective of you."

"We grew up at camp together. Then eventually it just kind of made sense that tried out dating." Aaron's shoulders rise with a shrug before he adds, "It didn't end well. I think she's worried that you and I might…" He trails off at the mention of the one thing neither of them had felt comfortable talking about a possibility of since it wasn't allowed at camp.

"So she's worried that we'd be a disaster too?" Emily questions.

"No, I think she's more worried that I'll move on and be happy with someone other than her."

"Oh." Emily doesn't know what to say to that, but apparently Aaron feels ready to change the subject.

"Want to talk about that man that wasn't actually your grandfather?"

"Wait you knew about Reggie?"

"He drove you a couple times that we met for coffee and you said bye Reggie when he dropped you off all those times. Pretty easy to tell he wasn't your grandfather." Aaron says with a light smile and waits for Emily to explain why she said he was her grandfather.

"Haley was making some jokes when I arrived so I said Reginald was my grandfather and to be fair he basically could be. He's been with my family since I was six. She may be a friend of yours but I can't stand anyone who thinks treating another human the way she was is ok."

"How was she treating him?" Aaron's concern seems genuine.

"She started with a no butlers allowed comment, but in my experience it's usually insulting their personal character that comes after making wise cracks about their professional character." Emily shrugs, not wanting to deeply insult her friend's friend, even if the blonde wasn't her friend.

"Haley is a good person deep down. She can have a hard exterior at times, which can come off poorly to some, but deep down she has good characteristics which I know is what people say about their crap friends, but she really is good."

"I mean I get it that you would stand up for her, especially if she's one of your oldest friends." Emily doesn't want to argue about Haley with Aaron because she might lose the argument and her friend. The pair goes back to walking in silence before Aaron speaks up while pulling them to a stop.

"Hold on, I think your silence means you are misunderstanding me. I don't agree with her words or actions all the time, however I think you should give her a chance especially since she's your UL for the summer before you decide you don't like her. She might surprise you."

"I'm not completely closing off the idea of acquaintanceship, but she showed a lot of her character cards already."

"I think she's stressed out. It's her first time being a UL and she wants to do a great job. She may not have given the best impression. Give her another chance maybe? For me?" Emily finds light brown eyes searching and pleading with hers. Suddenly it's easier to let her apprehension go and agree to what he was asking.

"I guess since you're asking nicely I can give her once more try." Aaron's lips turn up at the corner.

"Good. The summer will be more fun if you do. Plus on our weekend breaks we usually take some cool trips to do some fun activities like going to amusement parks or baseball games. You'll meet some of the other counselors too and hang out with them as well."

"Like Violet?"

"What?" Confusion floods Aaron's face as he doesn't understand the context of Emily's question.

"We're going to meet her right?"

"Who?"

"Violet. You said you were taking me to her?" Aaron's face goes blank as he thinks back trying to figure out how Emily got to think there was someone named Violet she was meeting.

"Oh wait no. We're not meeting someone named Violet. We're heading to Violet, that's your cabin's name. It's right over here." Aaron points at the building a few feet in front of them. "See Violet Cabin. I'm over on the other side of camp in Yellow Cabin. I think your cabins for your campers are Pink, Teal, Amaranth, Ruby, and Robin's Egg. Haley will know for sure. Mine are Orange, Green, Baby Blue, Red, and Gray."

"So all the cabins are colors?"

"Almost all the buildings are colors. Some like the pool, the mess hall, the stage where we do campfires and skits, and the Staff House are just called what they are. But it was easier to name the cabins and buildings after the color of their front doors. Most of our training and breaks will all take place in the Staff House where you first arrived at."

"Be honest, how brutal is training going to be?" Emily asks as they walk up the steps to the violet door.

"In terms of the length of the days, they'll be long and packed with information. But there will also be a lot of time to get to know your fellow counselors, camp songs, and some of the day to day schedule of Silver Springs."

"How many of us are there?"

"30ish. I don't know the exact number but there are six units so there have to be six ULs with at least four or five counselors under each of them." Aaron glances at the open beds and notices that two of the three open beds are next to the blanket he has seen wrapped around Haley many times. "How about this one?" He points to the one not by Haley in case the two don't get along like he hopes they will.

"Looks fine to me" Emily doesn't mention the two beds he had clearly skipped over by the bed with the pink comforter and the blue blanket. Aaron doesn't do things accidentally so if she had to guess, that's Haley's bed. So instead of mentioning it, Emily takes her duffel from Aaron and opens it to get her own bedding out. Her cotton fitted sheet is cool in her hand and she is able to place it on the mattress in a few moments before taking the nylon sleeping bag which is smooth and calming in her hands and laying it down as well.

"All good?" Aaron asks.

"I think I'm ready for training." Emily says hoping she will believe it soon too.


	4. Chapter 4

"Do you know what we're waiting on?" The redhead standing next to Emily on the amphitheater type steps asks her as well as the tiny blonde on the other side of Emily.

"No idea," Emily answers honestly.

"Maybe they're not ready for us in the dining hall?" The blonde suggests in a quiet tone. "I'm Kaitlyn by the way," she raises her voice slightly to speak this time.

"Emily."

"I'm Isla." The redhead flashes her pearly whites at the two girls on her right. "Wasn't that just the longest morning of your life though? I feel like my brain is just going to ooze out of my ears from all the rules and regs they laid on us."

"If you thought that was bad, wait until they start walking us through all the "what if"situations that could happen. It's really overwhelming your first time through training. I'm Jennifer, but my friends call me JJ though." A beautiful blonde pops up on Isla's left and joins the conversation. "Are you guys from the area?" Emily nods while Isla and Kaitlyn shake their heads.

"I'm from Maryland, so not that far." Kaitlyn says quickly.

"West Virginia." Isla throws out. "How about you?"

"Pennsylvania."

"What made you want to come all the way down here?" Emily finds herself asking the blonde.

"Looked into a few different camps, liked this one the best." JJ lets off a small smile. "This year though I needed a break from my boyfriend though so a few hundred miles seems like the perfect solution." Something about this blonde pulls Emily in and she can feel herself wanting to be friends with her. "But this is my second summer here. I came last year after graduating high school."

"So why are we waiting around then?" Isla asks quickly while Emily and Kaitlyn stand wondering the same thing.

"Oh! That's easy. We're going to do Singing Steps. We sing before every meal. While we're in training the returning ULs will lead it to teach the songs, but once campers are here we will rotate what unit leads singing, which is hoppers, which does the flag ceremony and so on. It's all part of kappers."

"Kappers?" Kaitlyn's face is painted with her confusion.

"It's kind of like unit chores I think is the best way to explain it. Your unit has maybe two tasks during the day such as signing steps at breakfast and then hopping at dinner. It makes all the tasks at camp get done fairly and equally."

"Might be a stupid question, but what's a hopper?" Isla asks, scratching her head and then tossing her red curls over to the other side.

"They set the tables in the mess hall before the meal, pick a grace, and then during the meal they get the food for the table before cleaning up the dining hall after the meal. That's where all the returning counselors just were. We're the hoppers for tonight. Starting tomorrow they'll incorporate all of you new counselors so you learn how to be hoppers." JJ pauses for air and smiles at the three new counselors who seem a bit overwhelmed. "Don't worry. Training week is a ton of information but week two you'll be rocking the counselor gig as if you've been doing it your whole life. They just have to throw a ton of info at you and hope some of it sticks." Suddenly JJ stops talking and raises her hand along with counselors around the semicircle. In the center of the stage are Aaron, Haley, a dark haired boy, a girl with purple hair, and a boy with green hair. Haley and the other girl step forward before putting their hands down.

"Hi everyone. My name is Haley and this is India. We're two of your ULs this year. Up on the stage are the returning ULs and we're going to be leading you in Singing Steps. We just wanted to quickly mention that Hands Up, Mouths Shut is probably the camp's favorite way to get the campers to quiet down so we can say something. You guys did fantastic with it just now sow lets continue to use it throughout the week."

"For our first song we are going to do Gray Squirrel, which can also be turned into Grace Squirrel. So we are going to assume the Gray Squirrel position by squatting ever so slightly, making t-rex arms and then turning our hands into a kind of kitten paws. Now the ULs are going to sing the words once so you can hear them and then we will sing them all together ok?" India calls out and the crowd agrees.

**Gray Squirrel, Gray Squirrel,**

**Swish your bushy tail**

**Gray Squirrel, Gray Squirrel,**

**Swish your bushy tail**

**Crinkle up your little nose,**

**Put it in between your toes,**

**Gray Squirrel, Gray Squirrel,**

**Swish your bushy tail**

Emily can't help but laugh watching Aaron bounce up and down on Gray Squirrel, shaking his butt on bushy tail, crinkling his nose, and touching his toes. It was just so silly to watch. He flashes a smile at her. Aaron loves camp songs because they are so silly and his campers usually love being silly with him. Seeing Emily laughing is a beautiful sight though. Getting to watch her be a Gray Squirrel is even cuter. She's unapologetically herself unlike Haley who is very controlled in her movements like she thinks someone will judge her for being silly at camp. It's camp for Christ's sake! The kids love the more silly their counselors are anyway. Emily will be perfect for her seven, eight, and nine year old campers.

Aaron realizes he, Issac, and Josh are about to have to teach so he pushes all thoughts of Emily from his head and steps forward with the guys he had spent a couple summers with now. "Hi, I'm Josh. Issac, Aaron, and I are going to teach you a fairly easy one. Now if you already know Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes you're already halfway there."

"We're going to do Alive, Awake, Alert, Enthusiastic." Issac touches each part as he says the word that goes with it.

"We'll do it once to show you how it goes and then we'll do it together." Aaron says and they jump into the song.

**I'm alive, awake, alert, enthusiastic, wooo!**

**I'm alive, awake, alert, enthusiastic, wooo!**

**I'm alive, awake, alert,**

**I'm alert, awake, alive**

**I'm alive, awake, alert, enthusiastic, wooo!**

"Easy enough right? Let's do it together!" Aaron flashes that smile Emily has grown to love to see at the sea of counselors and motions at them to join him this time. Emily can't remember the last time she sang this much, but she's having so much fun. They make their way through another four, or was it five, songs before they call the hoppers down to teach grace. JJ skips down the steps to join the other counselors. She steps up to the front with a tall, skinny African American boy and a blonde boy.

"Hi guys I'm JJ! This is Chester and Mason. All of us hoppers decided to keep it simple by doing the ABC Grace. It goes like this,"

**ABCDEFG I thank the Lord for feeding me. Amen.**

"Can we all try that?" Chester asks. The counselors all sing the grace before Haley returns to the stage and the hoppers return to where the rest of the counselors are.

"So here at camp we release the campers in little spurts to go to meals so that they all wash hands and can find seats. Normally we'd say hoppers and counselors dismissed however that won't work for today so first hoppers dismissed." JJ heads off towards the mess hall with the other returning counselors. Emily counts probably ten returning counselors on top of JJ. "You'll always want to keep an eye on the hand washing station and how many people are there. If it's not super backed up, send some more people. So anyone wearing glasses of any kind you're dismissed. That's sunglasses or any other kind of glasses." A few counselors go to join the hoppers.

"Wait for it, there's going to be an example of what not to do." A giggle comes from behind Emily and she turns around to see a girl with blonde and pink streaked hair standing behind her with piercing blue eyes. "It happens every year apparently. It's just a waiting game to see who the magical person is that gets to be singled out. Name's Abbie or Pink. One of the other camps I worked at used nicknames so I go by either. But don't be a goujon and spell it wrong. It's A-b-b-i-e, the only way Abbie should be spelled, got it."

"Got it." Emily smiles back at the sassy girl who's accent and linguistic differences put her from outside the US. Maybe Irish?

"Now as an example of what not to do, I'll use one of my girls." Aaron hopes this isn't going where he thinks it's going, yet he's pretty sure it is. He's going to have to talk to Haley if her jealousy over her ex-boyfriend having new friends is leading to Emily being singled out. "If you are wearing black athletic shorts, a green shirt and your name is Emily, you're dismissed." Even though Emily doesn't want to give Haley any satisfaction from these games, she can feel the heat rising to her cheeks from being singled out in front of all the remaining counselors. Is Haley really that upset by Emily just being friends with Aaron? If so this is going to be a long summer working with Haley. "So that's what you shouldn't do. Don't single out any of the kids unless you know it's a special day like their birthday. Other than that try to keep it more simple and open to it being able to more than one kid." Haley then makes eye contact with Emily and smiles like she wasn't doing this because something is wrong. "Thanks for being my example Emily. You can go to lunch."

"Of course. Thanks for warning me ahead of time." Emily says even though it's not true. She had promised Aaron to play nice, so play nice she will. But if it is to be war between them then war it shall be as well. As she walks towards the sinks to wash her hands, a hand grabs her arm. She turns to find Aaron standing beside her.

"She didn't actually tell you did she?"

"No. I doubt she's supposed to."

"No she is supposed to warn the person she will call out and she knows that. I'll talk to her."

"No, don't. It's fine. It's not that big of a deal."

"You sure?" She finds his eyes searching hers and even though she wants to say no, she nods.

"Yeah, you said it yourself. The summer will be easier if we try to get along. She's just being protective of you and doesn't get that we're just friends." Emily swears she can see something fall in Aaron's face, but she doesn't mention it.

"Ok. Well if you want me to talk to her just let me know."

"Thanks Aaron."

"That's what friends do." A tight lipped smile appears on Aaron's face before he turns to go back towards Singing Steps. Emily stands questioning what just happened before walking to the sinks. After washing her hands, she opens the door to walk into the dining hall. JJ waves from across the room and Emily smiles at the familiar face. She makes her way over to sit down.

"So you were who Haley singled out?" Emily nods. "Why didn't you tell me she picked you? I was picked my first year by India. She was my UL. Honestly I was a bit surprised they picked Haley to be a UL. Not that she can't handle it, but after all that happened last year. I heard they were talking about not even bringing her back. But then a new UL quit and they needed to fill the spot so they hired her again."

"Really?"

"Aaron did warn you about what happened last year right?" JJ's blue eyes search Emily's brown eyes.

"No, why would he have?"

"Well I saw how he greeted you when you arrived. He's making moves." JJ cocks her head in a don't you know manner.

"Far from. Aaron and I are just friends." JJ's face shows that she doesn't believe it but she shrugs and moves on.

"Well either way, I don't think Haley sees it that way."

"Yeah I don't either, but I promised Aaron I'd play nice." Emily reaches for the glass of water in front of her and takes a sip.

"You promised you'd play nice with his ex when he's falling for you? Why?" JJ's eyebrows pull together in shock.

"He's not falling for me. She may be his ex, but they also have gone to camp together since they were little kids. So she's one of his oldest friends. That's why I promised I'd play nice, on top of the fact that she's my UL."

"She's your UL too?" JJ's eyebrows shoot up. "That's both a good thing and a bad thing."

"Why's that?"

"Well it's a bad thing because she'll probably keep picking on you, but it's a good thing because it means you're in Violet cabin with me too."

"Wait, you're both in Violet Cabin?" Isla asks as she and Kaitlyn sit down on either side of Emily and JJ. The brunette and the blonde noth nod. "Perfect, that means it's us and Haley for the summer."

"Awesome!" Kaitlyn adds in with a smile. "What do you think we're having for dinner?"

"Oh, hopefully pizza! It's the best and I could probably eat like six pieces." JJ says quickly.

"Sure you could. And where on your skinny body would you put them?" Emily adds with a laugh.

"Oh don't judge her before you see her eat. I think there was a day last summer she ate four grilled cheeses and had seconds on dessert yet still went on a hike after lunch," Aaron says as he sits down next to Isla.

"It's the metabolism from playing soccer. It just goes straight through me. I'm starving."

"Sure, sure. Just make sure to ask the kitchen for three extra servings so the rest of us can get some food." Aaron says with a smile.

"Don't worry, Edna's got me. She knows how I eat." JJ sticks her tongue out at Aaron and Emily can feel the happiness radiating off of her friends and herself. Summer is off to a pretty decent start.


	5. Chapter 5

"Ok so you all have been really great with sitting through all the lecture bits the past couple days," Kathleen stands at the front of the Staff House as the counselors all lounge around the room on the various couches, chairs, and benches. Emily has her staff handbook draped across her lap and her pen in her hand ready for any note taking. Aaron is next to her, but much more casual.

Being his sixth summer and his third as a UL, there wasn't much new information for him, however there is plenty of time to observe Emily while Kathleen prattles along. Such as how so far she has taken notes, or he is guessing it is notes, in at least three different languages including English and she made these adorable doodles when she wasn't jotting down information. Emily had mentioned knowing a few languages from moving around as a kid, but for her to be taking notes in them she has to be pretty proficient in them right? He realizes he hasn't been paying attention to Kathleen and tunes back in. "So we're going to take a break from sitting here and start to get some of the units' stuff reading. We're going to split up into guys and girls just to make it easier! Guys you're going to help me in the shed out back. Girls, the ULs will explain your tasks." Haley, India, and a third girl walk up to the front of the room.

"Hi everyone. I'm Willow if we haven't met!" The curly haired, dark skinned girl says sweetly. "Girls we are going to start cleaning the units. Lots of fun I assure you, or well I've been told."

"Seeing as Haley and I are the ones who told her so, we'll explain." India flips her purple locks over her shoulder. "All of the units got a deep clean at the end of last summer, however sense some of them haven't been since then, we need to make sure they are cleaned before the campers get here. Today we will start our deep cleaning and then on Monday before our campers arrive we will give each bed quick wipe down just to ensure they are clean and the room smells clean when the campers and parents arrive."

"We also have to deep clean the bathrooms, the unit shelters and some other communal areas before the campers get here. We're going to start on bathrooms and unit shelters on top of cabins today. We will be going as a unit to clean out areas while the guys pull supplies out of the shed," Haley explains with a smile plastered on her face. " We will give the bathrooms a wipe down on Monday as well.

"Thank you ladies. We also will switch later on today and the guys will clean their units while you ladies help move some stuff so don't worry, everyone will get to clean." Kathleen adds. "Cleaning supplies are on the porch. ULs you've been told where to find everything else and you have radios if you have questions. Let's get a move on!" Everyone stands up from their seats and Emily can't help but let her arms stretch from sitting so long.

"Ready to go clean?" JJ's voice comes from the other side of Emily with a hint of sarcasm to it.

"Not really, but let's do it." Emily's shoulders shrug without her realizing they're moving.

"Have fun cleaning." Aaron smiles at them with a wave at the two girls before he makes a move towards the back door with the other guys in his unit. Kaitlyn and Isla come over to join Emily and JJ.

"Have any clue where our cabins and unit shelter are located?" Isla asks JJ, since Emily, Kaitlyn, and she have never been campers or counselors at Silver Springs before two days ago.

"Yeah, but we should probably wait for Haley and then go over together." JJ sounds like she's being a responsible returning counselor, but Emily wonders if it's more than that. Haley's been doing little things to mess with Emily since calling her out at Singing Steps like telling her the wrong times for things or pointing her in the wrong direction and if it weren't for writing things down or having JJ in her corner, she would have been really screwed. If they did leave without Haley, she'd probably say that Emily is trying to undermine her or find someway to blame Emily for anything. JJ seems to be catching on to that pretty quick though and is trying to help prevent that as well.

"Ok, JJ, Kaitlyn, Isla, I think it'll be easiest for us to finish if the three of you start on the cabins. JJ, since you did this last year, can you show them how to do it?" JJ nods hesitantly, waiting to hear Emily's assignment. "Great! I'll start on the Unit Shelter since it has the most to do and Emily you can start on the bathroom. You have cleaned a bathroom before, right? You didn't just let the servants do it right?" The bathroom and a dig, she shouldn't be surprised,but yet she feels the heat rising to flush her cheeks in anger.

"I'll be fine. No worries." Emily flashes a mile at Haley like she has not a care in the world, but she knows the flush is betraying her. JJ on the other hand caught the flash of irritation that also ran through Emily's eyes. Emily isn't one to let Haley know she is getting to her, but JJ will continue to do what she can for this girl. Especially after what almost happened to bella last year due to Haley… and Aaron. In JJ's opinion she had a lot of guts to treat Emily the way she is. If Kathleen were to find out, all hell would break loose, JJ thinks to herself as Isla, Kaitln and she walk into Pink cabin.

Emily stares at the room in front of her. Haley gave her a super brief overview of what to do, but part of her is having a hard time trusting Haley. Especially when Haley clearly distrusted her by the way she blocked her from seeing the combination for the closet that they kept cleaning supplies, toilet paper, paper towels, brooms, and mops in. So is everything Haley told her something she actually had to do? Or was she trying to make her question her so if she doesn't do something Haley gets to yell at Emily? Also if this is how it is working with Haley after only three days, how will the rest of the summer going to be like?

Dealing with Haley is like dealing with her mother- more frustrating than it should be, she thinks to herself as she grabs a bottle of cleaner and the toilet brush. Yes she knows Haley is only doing this because she is jealous of Emily's friendship with Aaron, but that doesn't really make it hurt any less. "La baiser dans le trou de cul." Emily can't help but cuss Haley out under her breath and to be fair, it makes her feel a bit better.

"Did I come at a bad time? I can come back?" Emily looks up to see Aaron staring back at her, her favorite smile plastered on his face, black rubber mats draped over his arms.

"No, of course not, just up to my arms in toilet cleaner. What are those?"

"Bathmats. They help collect water from when the kids get out of the showers." Aaron glances around the bathroom. "Where's everyone else?"

"JJ, Isla and Kaitlyn are cleaning the cabins. Haley's starting on the unit shelter."

"Really? Why?" From what Aaron remembers from past years, the unit shelters do not take that long at all.

"She said it had the most to do." Emily shrugs.

"Are you sure you didn't misunderstand her?"

"Pretty hard to misunderstand that." Emily's lips pull into a hard line as her eyebrows come downward. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing. It's nothing. So you're attacking the bathroom all alone?"

"Yup." Emily keeps her answer short as she returns to the task at hand.

"Huh." He sets the mats on the bench across from her. "Cool if I set these here until the floor gets swept?"

"Sure." There's a loud plop as the mats get set down and when Emily turns around Aaron is gone. Had he really left without saying anything? She shakes her head and moves to the next toilet. Before she finishes cleaning it though the door swings open and Aaron's back.

"Guess who's your new bathroom cleaning buddy?"

"Wait, what?"

"I mentioned to Kathleen that you were tackling the bathroom by yourself and asked if I could stay and help."

"How'd you get back here so fast?" Emily questions but dreads the answer that she has guesses about.

"I might have talked to her about it on the radio." Aaron explains quickly with small bits of guilt painted on his face.

"So you basically ratted out Haley, who if she gets in trouble will take it out on me? Aaron I can fight my own battles. I can also clean a bathroom by myself. I'm not reliant on anyone else to do it for me." Emily fumes.

"If she's retaliating against you just because you and I are friends, Kathleen should be made aware. However, I didn't say that to Kathleen because you're right, that is your fight and I'm not trying to fight that for you. However the ULs all know that the bathrooms need a minimum of two people to get them cleaned efficiently. Because your group like mine, has five cabins unlike everyone else who has four, Haley was asked if she needed an extra person so that there could still be two people in the bathrooms. She said no. Clearly she should have said yes. None of this is about you not being able to clean a bathroom by yourself or needing someone else to do it for you. It's about getting things done in a way that makes sense." Aaron pauses for a moment before continuing. "I know we've only known each other for a few months but I feel like I can trust you with anything Emily. I can be myself with you. So more than anything, this means I get to spend some time with one of my favorite people." He flashes another smile at her. "Do you trust me?"

"Yeah, surprisingly I do." She finds herself being completely honest with him.

"Great, then I'll trade in Captain Adventure for Captain Sweeping while you finish the toilets." Working together, it didn't take long to get through most of the bathroom and Emily knew they were doing things correctly. When Haley and the other counselors walk in, Emily isn't even afraid of Haley's reaction because she had so much fun talking with Aaron while they worked.

"So Emily how was your first time cleaning a bathroo- Aaron? Wh-What are you doing here?" Haley's face is covered in the shock she feels.

"Kethleen asked me to stay and help Emily when she heard that there was only one person cleaning the bathroom when I came to drop off bath mats." And even though it was completely her own fault, the glare that Haley shot Emily makes her terrified for what the retaliation will be.


	6. Chapter 6

There's an energy coursing through the dining hall on Monday morning. Part of it is knowing they had all survived training- the lectures, the cleaning, and the classes. Emily had completed her lifeguard training with a group of six others with Aaron helping teach the class. Honestly it had been one of her favorite parts of training not only because she had been able to accomplish something physically demanding, but it had also kept her away from Haley for multiple hours. But today her reprieve ends because the campers will be arriving and that is the other part of the energy coursing through the mess hall. It's the excitement of meeting the first group of campers. Haley and a few of the other counselors Emily doesn't know super well are heading out in a bit to go ride the bus with the campers while the rest of them are remaining at camp to wait for any campers who are getting dropped off by parents, sisters, brothers and who knows who else.

"Any of you going on the bus?" Abbie asks as she sits down next to JJ. The blond shakes her head.

"Sorry to disappoint but Kathleen has all of us staying here." She pops a piece of bacon into her mouth before continuing. "Haley is going so the rest of us are all here to prepare our unit."

"You going on it Abbie?" Aaron asks from next to Emily before he scoops a bite of oatmeal into his mouth.

"Nope. Gemma and Kennedy are both going so I'm staying behind."

"Kathleen pulled Parker from my unit so I'm here too." Aaron tosses out.

"She didn't want you to go as a UL?" Emily hears herself asking before she can stop herself.

"Haley, Issac, and Willow are all going so she needs me to stay behind so there are three still at camp." Aaron explains easily. "Plus there are six counselors going already so they need as many to stay here as possible." He shrugs. "I don't honestly care. I probably would rather not be on the buses. It's a long ride on a school bus. Not my ideal way to travel."

"How many buses are coming?" A mousy brunette Emily learned during lifeguard training is named Leighton. She's from New Zealand if Emily's remembering correctly.

"Depends on the session. Sometimes only two or three, but if camp is completely full up to four however that would also mean we wouldn't have a ton of car campers through." Emily listens to Aaron's words as she pushes her scrambled eggs around her plate. She's only halfheartedly listening to the information being shared. Part of her can't help but wonder how she's going to get through the next ten weeks with Haley. Haley's made it clear that Emily is a target because of her friendship with Aaron, it doesn't take a genius to figure that out, but she's also made it clear that she's no Muffy or Chrysanthemum either. Aaron may not have any interest beyond friendship with Haley, and Emily too if she's being completely honest, but Haley must think she has some claim on the boy she's known since grade school.

"You ok?" Aaron's voice is soft as it plays next to her ear.

"Yeah. Nerves for first day I guess." Emily tries to shrug off his concern. Aaron can't take his eyes off the brunette next to him. She had been so excited for the campers to finally get here when they talked about it during lifeguard training, so why would she be nervous now? Aaron can't help but wonder if this might actually have something to do with the blonde that is starting to get on his nerves from how much she is picking on his friend. Even if she doesn't feel the same as him, he cares for Emily a lot. And seeing Haley make her upset makes his blood boil. Part of him is dying to go to Kathleen about how Haley is treating Emily. Kathleen would stop it in a heartbeat. However, a larger part of him also knows that Haley is only a UL on probationary terms because of what happened with Bella last year. Yes it was partly his fault too, but if Haley got in trouble, there was a high likelihood that she could get fired. And like Emily, Haley is his friend too.

"You haven't come for more, so I brought you some instead." A voice with kindness baked into it says to JJ.

"Edna! You're the best!" The blonde's smile brightens the table as she takes the plate of eggs, bacon and toast. Edna glances around the table seeing how everyone is enjoying their breakfast.

"Is it not good? Are you not enjoying it? I can get you something different?" Edna's looking directly at Emily.

"What? No, it's fine. Just not super hungry today. Nerves and such." Emily throws her hands up in defeat.

"You need to eat up. Lots of movement with the little ones." Abbie comments as she munches on a piece of bacon.

"I know I should, I just…" Emily's voice trails off as she's not sure hot to voice her concerns or even if she should. "I'll be fine guys. Don't worry."

"At least try to get something down. I think you pushed those eggs around your plate more times than you've actually picked any up." Aaron's voice is filled with the hint of a joke covering the actual concern. Emily grabs the toast sitting on her plate since everyone is watching her and quickly takes three bites of it.

"Happy Dad?"

"Happier, sure." Aaron rolls his eyes ever so slightly before picking up his Styrofoam cup of coffee and taking a gulp of the warming liquid. Emily's own cup is sitting in front of her and is probably the only thing she's actually made any effort towards. Finishing the amber liquid in his cup, he turns towards Emily. "I'm going to grab some more coffee. You want some more?"

"Uhh… sure." Emily says passing her cup to him. She has only really gotten into drinking coffee quite recently, but today she is letting the caffeine warm her soul and try to wash her worries away. It might not fix everything, but at least it made her feel more human.

"Two creams, three sugars?" Aaron asks, pretending he doesn't remember it's actually two and two.

"Only two sugars," Emily corrects with a soft up turn of her lips.

"I'll be right back." He picks up her cup before standing from his chair. Getting Emily coffee was something he could easily do. Something he could possibly do all summer if he was being honest. And maybe he should. Maybe that would help to eventually push them past only being friends. Because every time he heard Emily say 'that's what friends do' or 'what are friends for' it sunk his heart down to his heels. Yes he knows they can't be more while at camp, but God damn it, he wants to be more. The past week every time he closed his eyes he saw her, he imagined holding her in his arms, being able to pull her in for long slow kisses, to be able to tell her how he feels, but he wakes up in a world where he knows she doesn't feel the same and that crushes his soul.

"Double coffee today Aaron? Trying to be super caffeinated for our campers?" Kathleen's voice cuts into his thoughts as he pours Emily's coffee.

"Oh, what? No. This one's Emily's."

"Ah, Emily. So I was right that you two would hit it off?" Kathleen says smiling at the boy she had watched grow up at Silver Springs.

"Yes. She's becoming a good friend. She's also making some other friends fairly quickly too."

"So will it be you, her and Haley running around together this year?"

"Um, not sure about that yet." Aaron doesn't really want to call out Haley but maybe he could just have Kathleen check in with Emily. "Emily does seem a bit nervous about the campers arriving today and I'm not really sure why?"

"Hmm, that does sound off. That's for letting me know. Are you excited for Sean to arrive?"

"Yes, and I know he's been ready to get to camp for a while now so he'll be one of our excited campers." Aaron picks up the two coffee cups off the counter. "I think it will be a great summer."

"I couldn't agree more." Kathleen smiles as she goes to fill her own cup. Aaron makes his way back to the table where he sees that Emily is laughing at some joke Abbie made, but can tell her soul isn't fully into it.

"Here you go." Aaron places the coffee in front of Emily and notices she's only eaten a few more bites of toast.

"Thanks." Her eyes catch his wandering around her plate and she picks up the half eaten toast, popping the rest into her mouth. Taking a gulp of coffee to wash it down, she turns to him. "I'm fine, it's just nerves. Come lunchtime I'll be back to normal, I'm sure."

"Friends watch out for each other." He forces himself not to stumble over the word he wishes they could be more than.

"I appreciate it, but I'm fine. Pinky promise."

"If it was something other than nerves, you would let me know?" He has a feeling her answer will be one thing but the actuality another.

"Of course. But it's just nerves. Once the kids get here, I'll be good." Aaron doesn't fully believe that, but let's his head nod as if he does. As the table wraps up eating, dishes get pilled up, slop dumped into a bowl, and trash gets cleaned up. The table is cleared off, wiped down, and benches are pushed in quickly showing the counselors know how to clean the mess hall efficiently and will be ready to teach the campers later today.

"Want to go set up our unit?" JJ asks motioning towards the door.

"Emily, a moment before you go?" Kathleen's voice catches Emily off guard. What could this be about?

"Go ahead. I'll meet you back at the unit." Emily shrugs, trying to convey to JJ she also didn't know why Kathleen is stopping her.

"Morning Kathleen." Emily sits down at the table where Kathleen is still working on breakfast.

"Good morning Emily. Are you ready for campers? Excited for camp to really get started?" Kathleen scoops a big bite of oatmeal into her mouth after her question.

"Getting there. We still have to get our unit finished, but after that we will be."

"But how are you feeling? Excited? Nervous?"

"A little of both I guess? I think once the kids are here I'll feel a bit better." Emily shrugs, but feels like repeating the same phrase she said to Aaron made the most sense since it is mostly true.

"And what do you think of your co-counselors so far?"

"JJ's a wonderful source of information. Isla's personality makes her great to be around and Kaitlyn really brings the group together with her jokes and her heart." Emily can't help but smile and gush thinking of her team.

"And how about you and Haley? How are you two getting along?" Kathleen's interested to hear this one, especially with the whole bathroom debacle during training.

"We've had some differences but I think overtime we'll be able to work just fine together." Emily tries to be as diplomatic as possible for Aaron's sake.

"What kind of differences?" Kathleen's eyebrows pull together as she lifts her coffee cup.

"Honestly I can't remember most of them since they were such petty thing." _Aaron_. She thinks to herself.

"Well if things continue to cause problems, you can always come talk to me. We can always rearrange units if need be. I want this summer to be smooth sailing for all of us." Kathleen smiles at the brunette sitting across from her.

"Thanks Kathleen, but I don't think it'll be an issue." Emily returns a flash of smile to her camp director before asking, "Is there anything else? I don't want to leave my unit to have to set up all on their own."

"No, no, that's all. I just wanted to check in with you. Have a good first day. I'll see you later tonight!" Emily stands up, pushes the bench in and makes her way towards the door. What a weird conversation. What would Kathleen have wanted to check in with her when she didn't with anyone else? Emily pushed the oak door of the dining hall open and steps out into the sticky humid heat of the summer morning. As her sneakers step down the dining hall steps and crunch the leaves of the forest floor, she can't help but wonder if someone mentioned something to Kathleen that made her think she needed to check in. Rethinking through her morning she tries to think of everyone's interactions to think if she saw them talking to Kathleen. Abbie, JJ, Leighton, and Isla were all at the table all morning. Kaitlyn only got up to go to the bathroom. Aaron went to get coffee… where Kathleen also was filling her own cup. He wouldn't have mentioned anything would he?


End file.
